Sebenza age identification

D

deepfry

Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Messages
496
I just picked up my first Sebenza from my local brick and mortar and was hoping you guys could help me with something.
The knife was sold on consignment and while the knife itself seems pristine, it did not come with a box or birth certificate.
My question is, is there any way to tell when the knife was manufactured without the birth certificate?

ETA: The knife in question is a large regular.

Thanks
 
if you look inside the handle scales you will see a date code for when the handles were made. an upper case letter and a year, ie A05 for the first quarter of 2005. this will tell you when the handle scales were made, but not when the knife was completed.

if you need to determine blade steel take the knife apart and the blade tang will have an "S" if it is S30V, and blank if it is BG42.

the only conclusive way is to have the birthday card. but you can narrow it down ;)
 
Thanks!
It says B 06, so second quarter 2006.
I hadn't even thought about whether the steel was anything other than S30V.
I'll have to check that now.
 
I just read the CRK timeline sticky.
I think you are right and I'm just going to assume it is S30V rather than take it apart.
Thanks again for your help.
 
Alright, so now I have another question for you. The blade on mine has a semi-sharp top swedge. Were/are top swedges a factory option on regular Sebenzas or do I have a Frankenbenza?
I will have to get some pictures of it up as soon as I can.
Thanks
 
yes they used to sharpen the swedge. I know they don't offer this anymore, but will polish it (I have a large regular with a sharpened swedge)
 
CR will put a swedge on "Regular" style Seb's only. This means the only way to get one these days is to special order an annual with with this option.

Now, some of you might recall that some aftermarket mods have been done to Sebenza's in the past by the likes of Tom Mayo and Tom Krein. While not common, there are a few of these floating around. Still, it is more likely that yours is a factory option. Enjoy.
 
Interesting thanks.
I thought that perhaps someone had swapped the blade from a large annual for whatever reason since those are the only ones I could immediately find that have the swedge. I'm glad to hear that the normal large regulars, at least at some point, came like this.
 
deepfry said:
Thanks!
It says B 06, so second quarter 2006.
I hadn't even thought about whether the steel was anything other than S30V.
I'll have to check that now.
Click to expand...

Actually that is the second "lot" of blades for the year, not quarter.

there are various batches per year depending on demand,
some can even carry over to the next year.

Birth Certificate date is assembly completion.

-Ron
 
Thanks for the info.
I've been holding off on pics because I bought an Umnumzaan off the exchange last week and I thought I would just take some pics of both at the same time. It should arrive sometime today *fingers crossed*.
Also, apparently I need new glasses because I looked at the Sebenza again in some better light and it actually says A 06, not B.
After a week though, I can honestly say I'm a believer now. The more I hold and handle the Sebenza the more I want to. That, more than anything, to me, is what makes a knife a keeper.
 
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